Filter mat for evaporative coolers



y 22, 1952 L. B. SUMMERHILL 2,604,311

FILTER MAT FOR EVAPQRATIVE COOLERS Filed June 19, 1 950 y 4: n I i 4INVENTOR.

ATTORNEY Zena Blake Summer/71W Patented July 22, 1952 UNITED STATESPATENT OFFICE FILTER MAT FOR EVAPORATIVE COOLERS Lena Blake Summerhill,Dallas, Tex. Application June 19, 1950, Serial No. 168,946

- 2 Claims. 1

This invention relates to evaporative coolers and more particularly tosuch coolers having moistened filter mats through which passes the airto be cooled.

Evaporative coolers usually comprise a mat of moistened filter materialthrough which passes the air which is to be cooled. The material ofwhich the mat is composed is generally of a fibrous nature having a verylarge surface area which the air contacts in its passage through themat. Since the surface of the fibrous material is moistened, evaporationof the water takes place at these surfaces as the air travels throughthe mat. It is important that all air passing through the mat come intocontact with the surfaces of the fibrous material sinceair passingthrough any gaps in the mat will not be cooled. Furthermore, the air incontacting the moistened surfaces of the mat deposits most of the dustand other foreign material with which it is laden on the moistenedsurfaces of the mat and is in this manner filtered or cleansed in itspassage through the mat. It is therefore desirable that the material ofwhich the mat is made resist sagging even when moistened, that itprovide a large surface area which can be moistened, that the fibrousmaterial itself provide uniform interstices through which the air maypass, and that the means for mounting the mat facilitate the removal forcleaning of the mat and also its installation after cleaning.

Accordingly, it is an object of my invention to.

provide a new and improved evaporative cooler.

It is another object of my invention to provide a new and improvedevaporative cooler having a mat of fibrous material.

It is another object of my invention to provide a new and improvedevaporative cooler which is easily disassembled for, cleaning.

It is another object of my invention to provide a, new and improved matfor evaporative coolers.

It is still another object of my invention to provide a new and improvedmat for evaporative coolers which is composed of luifa cores.

Briefly stated, my new and improved evaporative cooler is provided witha mat of the cores of luffa plants, a genus of tropical climbing,

herbs. Luffa cores have heretofore been employed mainly as sponges but Ihave discovered that they are ideally suited for use in mats forevaporative coolers since they do not sag when moistened, haveinterstices of more or lessunithe mat.

For a better understanding of my invention reference may be had tofollowing description taken in connection with the accompanying drawingand its scope will be pointed out in the appended claims.

In the drawing:

Figure 1 is a perspective View, with some parts broken away, of theevaporative cooler of my invention;

Figure 2 is a side view of the device shown in Figure l with some partsshown in section;

Figure 3 is a sectional view taken along line 33 of Figure 2; and rFigure 4 is a fragmentary view showing the manner of impaling thelufiacores to form a mat and the manner in which the impaling rods areheld in position.

Referring now to the drawing, the mat is formed of luffa cores which areimpaled on substantially U-shaped supporting members H and I2. Theparallel members l3 and M of each supporting member. and [2 pass throughsuitable apertures in the web I5 of a channel member I6 and theconnecting member I! lies in the channelof the channel member iii. Astrap I8 is detachably secured to channel member I6 by means of bolts I9and maintains the'supporting members l3 and 4 attached to channel memberl6.

In practice, the luffa cores of the mat H! are pressed into closerelationship with no intervening spaces therebetween but in order toclearly show the shapes of these cores in transverse section, they arespaced apart in Figure 2.

One side of mat |0 abuts-a, foraminous cover 20 which may be formed ofexpanded metal while its opposite side abuts a foraminous cover 2| whichmay be formed of crossed wires.

The mat l0 and covers 20 and 2| are mounted in a substantially U-shapedframe 22 having parallel members 23 and 24 and a connecting member 25.Members 23, 24 and 25 are channel shaped. and have parallel sides 26 and21, 28 and 29, and 30 and 3|, respectively, between which are disposedthe outermost edges of three sides of mat I0 andcovers 2ll'and 2| Theedges of the fourth side of mat I0 and covers 20 and 2|, rest on thebottom 32 of a trough 33. The sides 26 and 28 of parallel members 23 and24 are connected near their lower ends by a bracing member 34 which maybe rigidly secured to sides 26 and 28 by welding or by any othersuitable means.

Secured to connecting member 25 and extending parallel to and betweenits sides 30- and 3| is a perforated tube 35.

One end of tube'35 is connected to a Water supply tube 36 through asuitable fitting assembly 31 and is rigidly secured. toside 3| of con,

necting member 25 by means of nuts 33 and 39 threaded on tube 35. Aneedle valve indicated generally by the numeral 40 having a handle 41 isprovided to control the rate of flow of water into perforated tube 35.The other end of tube 35 is closed by a plug 42 and is similarly securedto side 3| by means of nuts 43, one of which can be seen in Figure 1.Perforated tube 35 extends above mat l and, when supplied with waterthrough supply tube 36, it drips water on mat I0. The rate of flow ofwater onto mat I0 can be regulated by manipulation of handle 4| ofneedle valve 40.

Trough 33 has a pair of elongated sides 44 and 45, one of which, theside 44 is higher than the other. Each of the end walls 46 and 41 areprovided adjacent their upper edges with an aperture 48, one of whichcan be seen in Figure 1. The apertures 48 are adapted to receive screws,not shown, which are employed to fasten trough 33 in a window. The lowerside 45 is provided with an aperture 49 adjacent its upper edge throughwhich the overflow, if any, of water collecting in trough 33 may escape.Should aperture 49 become clogged for any reason, the overflow wouldtake place over the upper edge of lower side 45 precluding flow of waterover the higher side 44 into the room into which the window opens.

The air may be drawn through mat [0 by natural drafts or by means of afan, not shown.

The method of assembly of mat l0 and its installation in a window isvery simple and easy. Supporting members II and [2 are secured tochannel member l6 by bolting strap [8 to channel member IE. Luffa coresare then impaled on the supporting members II and [2 until a mat I0 isformed of approximately the proper dimansions. The covers and 2| arethen placed on opposite sides of mat l3 and mat l0 and covers 20 and 2|are slid between the sides 28 and 21, and 28 and 29 of members 23 and 24respectively, until the upper edges of cover member 20 and 2| and mat l0slide between the sides 30 and 3| of member 25. This assembly is placedin trough 33, secured in a window, with the lower edges of covers 20 and21 and the bolts I9 resting on the bottom 32 of trough 33. The sash ofthe window is then lowered to rest on connecting member 25. If desired,the slits or apertures between'members 23 and 24 and the sides of thewindow can be closed by any suitable means, such as stuffing, to preventthe flow of air into the room between members 23 and 24 and the sides ofthe window. The water supply tube 36 is then connected to perforatedtube and the handle 4 I, which is in the room, is

- manipulated to provide the proper. rate of flow upon mat Hi. It willbe apparent that the luffa cores which compose the mat It) can be easilyremoved, by employing the converse of the process just described, whenthey become dirty. The luiia cores can be easily washed in soap andwater and again assembled into the mat [0. In this manner their usefullife is prolonged and costly replacement of mat I0 each time it becomesdirty is made unnecessary.

The cover 20 is made of expanded material since it faces into the roomand presents a better appearance than the intercrossed wires of cover2|.

The window mats, sometimes referred to as flats, used dry in the winter,will filter out practically all the dust, and can be washed as soon asany noti'cable accumulation of dust is trapped. With the house free fromdust of incoming air, general health conditions are improved and thedamage from dust to furnishings is reduced to a minimum.

Another outstanding advantage of using these flats, or filtering andcooling mats, is the fact that windows can be left fully opened withoutdanger of water damage in a heavy rainstorm. The householder can go towork in the morning, leaving all windows open which are equipped withthese lufia flats and come to freshly aired quarters.

While I have shown and described a preferred embodiment of my inventionit will be obvious that various changes and modifications can be madewithout departing from my invention and I, therefore, aim in theappended claims to cover all such changes and modificationsas fallwithin the true spirit and scope of my invention.

What is claimed is:

1. In an air filter mat, the combination comprising channel membersdefining the sides and top of an inverted U-shaped frame, a bracingmember affixed to and extending from one to the other of said sidesadjacent their lower ends, a water trough receiving the lower ends ofsaid sides and to which the latter are secured, an inverted channelmember disposed in and coextensive with the bottom of said trough, aplurality of U-shaped supporting members whose bight portions underliethe web of said inverted channel member and whose legs extend upwardlyin parallelism with said frame sides through apertures in said web, saidlegs terminating in pointed ends spaced from the top of said frame,means coextensive with and secured to said inverted channel member andbearing against the bight portions of said supporting members to holdthesame in relation to said inverted chan nel member, a series of luifaplant cores impaled on the legs of. said supporting members injuxtaposition, a foraminous cover on each side of said frame and meansin the top of said frame for distributing water on said luffa plantcores to be received in said trough.

2. In an air filter mat, the combination comprising channel membersdefining the sides and top of an inverted U-shaped frame, a water troughreceiving the lower ends of said sides and to which the latter aresecured, a plurality of U-shaped supporting members whose lower portionsare disposed in said trough and whose leg portions extend upwardly insaid frame and which terminate in pointed ends, a series of lufia plantcores impaled on the legs of said supporting members in juxtaposition, aforaminous cover on each side of said frame and means in the top of saidframe for distributing water on said luifa plant cores to be received insaid trough.

LENA BLAKE SUMMERHILL.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 381,707 Libbey Apr. 24, 18882,137,905 Church et al Nov. 22, 1938 2,160,003 Slayter et al May 30,1939 2,182,501 Quave et a1 Dec. 5, 1939 2,404,479 Essick July 23, 19462,408,158 Belsher Sept. 24, 1946

